1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus and the like that receive a digital broadcast.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, video data is distributed through various media. Examples are television broadcasts using broadcasting waves and streaming broadcasts transmitted through communication lines across the Internet.
In particular, the broadcasting systems are shifting to digital broadcasts using digital television signals.
The digital broadcast uses MPEG2 as a video data coding scheme. Compared to analog broadcasts, MPEG2 takes a long time to actually output an image after video data is received and decoding is started. Accordingly, it takes a long time to output an image of a newly selected channel after the viewer has switched channels.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-333446, therefore, has proposed a technique that displays a still image upon channel switching, instead of a disturbed image caused by unstable synchronization upon channel switching or a blanked black image.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-135394 has proposed a technique that receives video data by a plurality of receivers and stores GOP.
Unfortunately, these conventional techniques have the following problems.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-333446 does not shorten the time before an image is displayed after channel switching. In other words, the length of the channel switching time remains unchanged, so the psychological burden on the viewer remains the same.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-135394 requires an enormous storage area in order to store video data of a few seconds for each channel.